March 23 in Toronto: Art, Civil Society, and Public Justice: A Double Book Launch

Join authors Jonathan Chaplin and Lambert Zuidervaart in celebrating the launch of their new books in social and political philosophy. Jonathan and Lambert will introduce their books, respond to your questions, and talk about one another’s work. Come greet the authors, enjoy refreshments and conversation, and purchase your own signed copies of Herman Dooyeweerd and Art in Public.


Wednesday, March 23, 2:00 pm
Leonard Hall, Wycliffe College, University of Toronto
5 Hoskin Avenue, Toronto (enter from Tower Road)

Sponsored by Centre for Philosophy, Religion, and Social Ethics at the Institute for Christian Studies (research.icscanada.edu). Hosted by Crux Books (www.cruxbooks.com)

About the authors and books:

Dr. Jonathan Chaplin is the first Director of the Kirby Laing Institute for Christian Ethics, Cambridge. He was Associate Professor of Political Theory at the Institute for Christian Studies, where he held the Dooyeweerd Chair of Social and Political Philosophy.

Dr. Lambert Zuidervaart is Professor of Philosophy at the Institute for Christian Studies and founding Director of ICS’s Centre for Philosophy, Religion, and Social Ethics. He is an Associate Member of the Graduate Faculty in Philosophy at the University of Toronto.


Herman Dooyeweerd: Christian Philosopher of State and Civil Society. University of Notre Dame Press, 2011. ISBN: 9780268023058

The twentieth-century Dutch philosopher Herman Dooyeweerd (1894–1977) left behind an impressive canon of scholarly works. Jonathan Chaplin shows how Dooyeweerd helps us understand that state and civil society should be related to achieve justice and the public good.


Art in Public: Politics, Economics, and a Democratic Culture. Cambridge University Press, 2011. ISBN: 9780521112741 (hardback), 9780521130172 (paperback)

Lambert Zuidervaart makes a vigorous case for government arts funding, based on crucial contributions the arts make to civil society. He proposes an entirely new conception of the public role of art, one with wide-ranging implications for education, politics, and cultural policy.


Long information for other publicity about the authors and books:

Dr. Jonathan Chaplin is the first Director of the Kirby Laing Institute for Christian Ethics, Cambridge, a member of the Divinity Faculty of Cambridge University, and a Visiting Lecturer at the VU University, Amsterdam. He was Associate Professor of Political Theory at the Institute for Christian Studies from 1999-2006, holding the Dooyeweerd Chair of Social and Political Philosophy from 2004-6. He is editor of God and Global Order: The Power of Religion in American Foreign Policy (Baylor University Press, 2010) and wrote the report Talking God: The Legitimacy of Religious Public Reasoning for the UK think tank Theos (2009).

Dr. Lambert Zuidervaart is Professor of Philosophy at the Institute for Christian Studies and founding Director of ICS’s Centre for Philosophy, Religion, and Social Ethics. An accomplished musician and writer, he is the former president of the Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts in Grand Rapids, Michigan. His other recent books include Dog-Kissed Tears (Wipf & Stock, 2010), Social Philosophy after Adorno (Cambridge UP, 2007), and Artistic Truth: Aesthetics, Discourse, and Imaginative Disclosure (Cambridge UP, 2004). Lambert is an Associate Member of the Graduate Faculty in Philosophy and a Faculty Associate of the Centre for Ethics at the University of Toronto.

Herman Dooyeweerd: Christian Philosopher of State and Civil Society. University of Notre Dame Press, 2011. ISBN: 9780268023058

The twentieth-century Dutch philosopher Herman Dooyeweerd (1894–1977) left behind an impressive canon of philosophical works and has continued to influence a crossdisciplinary community of scholars in Europe and North America. Jonathan Chaplin introduces Dooyeweerd to many English readers by critically expounding Dooyeweerd’s social and political thought and by exhibiting its pertinence to contemporary debates about civil society. Chaplin outlines the distinctive theory of historical and cultural development that underlies Dooyeweerd’s substantive social philosophy; examines Dooyeweerd’s notion of societal structural principles; and sets forth his theory of the state, its definitive nature, and its proper role vis-à-vis other elements of society. Dooyeweerd’s contributions, Chaplin concludes, help us understand how state and civil society should be related to achieve justice and the public good.

Art in Public: Politics, Economics, and a Democratic Culture. Cambridge University Press, 2011. ISBN: 9780521112741 (hardback), 9780521130172 (paperback)

This book examines central questions about funding for the arts: Why should governments provide funding for the arts? What do the arts contribute to daily life? Do artists and their publics have a social responsibility? Challenging questionable assumptions about the state, the arts, and a democratic society, Lambert Zuidervaart presents a vigorous case for government funding, based on crucial contributions the arts make to civil society. He argues that the arts contribute to democratic communication and a social economy, fostering the critical and creative dialogue that a democratic society needs. Informed by the author’s experience leading a nonprofit arts organization as well as his expertise in the arts, humanities, and social sciences, this book proposes an entirely new conception of the public role of art with wide-ranging implications for education, politics, and cultural policy.

March 17-18, Lambert Zuidervaart in Grand Rapids

March 17 and 18: Grand Rapids area readers, Lambert Zuidervaart will be in Grand Rapids for a book launch, lecture, and symposium connected to his new book Art in Public: Politics, Economics, and a Democratic Culture which was recently published by Cambridge University Press.

Lecture and Launch of Art in Public: Politics, Economics, and a Democratic Culture
Thursday, March 17, 2011 7:00 pm
Cook Auditorium, Grand Rapids Art Museum, 101 Monroe Center, Grand Rapids, MI
This free lecture is co-sponsored by the Grand Valley State University Department of Art and Design and the Grand Rapids Art Museum.


Symposium: Art in Public in Grand Rapids
Friday, March 18, 2011 1-4pm
UICA (Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts), 41 Sheldon SE, Grand Rapids, MI
This free symposium is co-sponsored by the Grand Valley State University Department of Art and Design, Civic Studio, and the Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts. The symposium is organized in two parts: The first part will look at national and historical contexts, and the second part will focus on the local Grand Rapids context.

For more information about these events, visit artinpublicingr.wordpress.com

Freedom Unlimited

Toronto, March 3, 2011, 5:30 PM
Book Launch and Discussion

Freedom Unlimited: Liberty, Autonomy, and Response-ability in the Open Theism of Clark Pinnock
By Jeffrey S. Hocking

Hosted by Crux Books at Wycliffe College in Leonard Hall
University of Toronto Campus
5 Hoskin Avenue, Toronto (off Tower Rd.)


Reception immediately following

Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN 13: 978-1-60899-469-4
Copies Available for $17

"Like Open Theism itself, the volume works with the concepts of human freedom, which is a category needing to be opened up in open theism. Is not the freedom that God longs to see in us more than bare or indifferent choices but loving freedom? . . . This book is not written in a critical spirit but one which issues an invitation to life."
—Clark Pinnock, from the Foreword

"Hocking pushes the discussion of human freedom and divine power in new and important directions. He seeks to overcome the harsh either/or choice between independent human autonomy or deterministic divine heteronomy by proposing free human faithfulness. And he proposes a doctrine of divine power that is participatory rather than unilateral. This book makes a profound contribution to how we might best think about God's love and free creaturely responses!"
—Thomas Jay Oord, from the back cover

Join us for a discussion of the book and the themes of freedom, heteronomy, and obedience with:

Jeffrey Hocking, Author: Freedom Unlimited

Jon Stanley, Editor/Contributor: Freedom Unlimited, Co-Editor: God is Dead and I Don't Feel So Well Myself

Nik Ansell, Senior Member in Theology at the Institute for Christian Studies

March 23, Toronto, Art, Civil Society, and Public Justice...

March 23, Toronto, Art, Civil Society, and Public Justice, a double book launch: "Sponsored by Centre for Philosophy, Religion, and Social Ethics at the Institute for Christian Studies. Hosted by Crux Books..."